Author's Note: As if you didn't think that things were bad enough, already.
Buffy was in eternity. Infinity.
That was the only way she could describe it. There was no floor, no end to 'down' — but she was kneeling on something. There was no end to 'up', either. When she looked above her, she could just see endlessness. The overpowering, overwhelmingness of infinity.
The surrounding areas were featureless. It was one color, yet it was every color, all at once. The colors all faded one into another, inside her mind, as if Buffy was drowning in a rainbow she couldn't quite see.
The three ghosts were gone.
But Seo was still in her arms. Still breathing. Still unconscious.
Buffy lay her down on the ground. Stood up and stepped backwards, looking around herself, trying to take it all in. The everything and the forever. Listening to the reverberations of words she hadn't said, yet, might never say, might have said back when she was a child, echoing through the air. In patches, the ground seemed almost to pool liquid beneath her feet, until she looked down, and discovered that it hadn't.
"Hello?" she called.
A gasp from Seo, as she shot up. Eyes open.
"I'm alive," she said. She sounded like she couldn't believe it. She raised up her hands, inspecting them as if doubting their existence. "I… why am I alive?"
"Seo," Buffy called, as softly and gently as she could.
Seo snapped her head around, staring at Buffy. Then jumped to her feet, and backed away. "No," she said. "No! I know about you. Dad told me about you. Whatever you want, I'm not doing it."
Buffy frowned. "Not doing…?"
Then realized. Who else liked to wander around in extra-dimensional planes, taking on Buffy's shape. Who would be very eager to get their hands on a super-weapon that was even more powerful than the Scythe, and could wipe out the Slayers forever. And probably would show up looking like Buffy to mess with someone like Seo, for whom Buffy had special significance.
Buffy rushed over to Seo, took her hands. "It's me," she said. "Really me. I was holding you when you got transported here. I came with you."
"You… came…" Seo felt Buffy's hands, as if testing them to make sure they were real. She looked up into Buffy's eyes. "They took you, too."
Buffy nodded.
Seo yanked her hands away. "I… I didn't want this to happen," she said. "I thought they'd keep you on Earth. I thought you'd be safe. I… thought…" Then her face crinkled into gratefulness, and she threw her arms around Buffy, hugging her so tight that Buffy almost couldn't breathe. "Don't leave."
Buffy put her own arms around Seo. "I'm not leaving," she assured her. "I'm right here." She could feel the child trembling, Seo's eyes squeezed shut as if not wanting to see what awaited her. "You don't have to be scared."
"Not scared," Seo squeaked. She forced herself to pull out of the embrace. Putting on as brave a face as she could manage. "I never get scared."
Buffy glanced at their surroundings. "Do you know where we are?" she asked.
Seo hesitated, also looking around herself. Then shook her head. "Another dimension, I think," she guessed. She stuck out her tongue, as if testing it. "Yeah. The air tastes… other dimensiony."
"Hell dimensiony?" asked Buffy.
Seo retrieved her tongue. "I don't know what a Hell dimension tastes like."
Buffy actually did. She'd been to a lot of Hell dimension type things. And they definitely didn't look or taste or smell like this. This place was mostly just… confusing.
"Not Hell dimensiony," Buffy assured her. She looked around, hoping that someone would show up and let them know where they were, and what was going on. But still, no one. "And… do you have any idea who took us here?"
Seo shook her head.
"The same people who took your dad, though?" Buffy checked.
Seo hesitated. Then nodded.
Buffy gave a small smile. "Well, that's something, at least," she muttered. Then, to Seo, "And I'm guessing these guys want you alive because they want you to kill lots of people. Even though you don't want to."
"I… don't know why they want me alive," said Seo. "Dad said if they ever caught me, they'd kill me. For good."
Buffy glanced around. If Seo's dad was here, Buffy was guessing that explained why these ghost-whatevers hadn't killed Seo, yet. He'd already worked out something behind the scenes — some reason they couldn't harm her.
"Don't worry," Buffy assured Seo. "The Doctor isn't about to let us die. He's probably doing something super clever, behind the scenes, to get us out of this."
Seo's eyes went wide. "The Doctor?" she asked. "You mean… they took him, too?"
Buffy blinked. Then blinked again. "But… you said… they broke into your home and took…"
"My dad," Seo confirmed. "I never said anything about the Doctor."
Buffy's jaw dropped open.
"But… but you have two hearts!" she said. "You've got his eyes! His freckles! You lick things! You speak Bird and Snake and you believe in talking to aliens, and…"
Seo seemed to realize Buffy's confusion. She gave a small laugh, and shook her head. "Well, of course I do. The Doctor is my father. Biologically speaking. But my parents died when I was a baby. I've heard stories about the Doctor, and I know a lot about him. But I don't even remember meeting him. Not really."
"What?!" said Buffy. "He's… the Doctor is…?" No. No, that couldn't be true. Couldn't possibly be true! The Doctor couldn't just… be dead! It wasn't possible.
Seo clapped her hands over her mouth. "I… shouldn't have said that," she realized.
Buffy tried to clear her head. "But… if the Doctor… your father… is dead… then who's your 'dad'?"
"Dad's the one who saved me," said Seo, removing her hands. "When the world was ending, and I was going to die. He saved me. Raised me. And locked me up. He's the one who's always been there for me when I needed him. Always gave me a hug when I needed a hug. Always forgave me when I blew things up or screwed up his plans or acted stupid. He's…"
Her face suddenly turned white, as her eyes landed on something over Buffy's shoulder. She pushed Buffy aside, and raced forward, crying out, "Dad!"
Buffy turned. To discover a long, icy tube that had just appeared a short ways away. An icy tube that seemed to reach endlessly into the heavens, and just as endlessly down below. But at their eye level was a man, trapped inside. Unmoving. As if frozen. Except… not.
It was a face that Buffy recognized. Just as she recognized what the ripples of stillness, covering his skin inside the tube, that made his body fade in and out of reality seemed to indicate.
A man in a leather jacket. Semi-corporeal. And not the Doctor.
"He saved a child," the Super-Doctor-Protecting Entity had told her, in that alternate timeline. "A baby girl he should never have saved. Gave her a future she should never have had." He'd given a small smile. "Can't condemn him for something I've done myself."
Buffy approached, as Seo was examining the ice tube frantically, searching for something she could undo, some lock she could unlock, some way she could release him. Buffy was just thinking, digesting what all this meant.
"You saved a child," she said to the entity, even though he couldn't hear. Then pressed her hand against the ice, which rippled and glowed beneath her palm, but did not give. "You saved my child."
"Apparently, you asked him to," said a voice from behind them. "Or that's the defense he gave, at any rate." A small sigh. "You have no idea how much trouble that wish of yours has caused, Buffy Summers."
Buffy spun around, to find a glowing man standing behind her. No… not… glowing, exactly. It was like… the impression of light you got, after you'd been staring at something bright for too long, and someone had just shut it off. His entire form seemed to swim before Buffy's eyes, and yet, at the same time, seem incredibly solid. She reached out her hand, to see if he was corporeal. And, when her hand reached his body, she discovered it was now hanging back at her side, as if she'd never raised it at all.
"Chief General Andor," the man introduced, with a little bow. "And it really is a pleasure to meet you in person. For all that you have done for the Earth — we hold you in the highest possible respect."
Buffy felt tension flood through her. Felt an icy grip seize her heart. As she suddenly had… a very nasty suspicion… she knew who was behind all of this.
"Oh, no," she said, backing up a little, and running right into the icy tube. "No. Please, please tell me you're not who I think you—"
Seo rushed forward, and Buffy just barely managed to catch her and drag her back in time.
"Let Dad go!" Seo shouted at Andor. "You've got me, now! You don't need him."
Andor's eyes focused on Seo, and all lightness fell from his expression. His face grew hard, dark, stern. He crossed his arms, peering at her, closely, as if scrutinizing her.
"So it is you," he said. "Our deepest fears, our darkest nightmares made flesh. Death has come, and it comes as a primitive. A half-breed." He made a face, as if the idea was somehow supremely distasteful to him. "Who calls herself 'Seosyrae'."
Seo went very still. Her breath coming fast, her eyes focused on the creature before her. "I might be born for Death, but I'm not killing anyone for you," she warned. "I'm not going to let you use me to destroy the world. Or the galaxy. Or the universe."
"Oh, I believe you have done enough universal destruction yourself, child," came a disembodied female voice from some ways ahead of Buffy.
And as Buffy squinted, she realized that she could see, looming before her, a large, endlessly long raised podium that had popped into existence, containing five raised desks of different heights — the highest being in the center — each sporting a regal-looking glowingish figure, of different stance and posture.
Buffy rubbed her eyes. Had this podium thing just appeared? Or had it always been there, and Buffy just hadn't noticed it, before?
The man in the center — the tall, ceremonially dressed man, in the highest podium — stood, peering at Seo with the same intensity as Andor had, earlier. He pointed at Seo. "You. Seosyrae. Born for death, murder, and destruction. You caused the death of your own world, and now you're causing the death of this one."
Seo cowered back. "I don't… I don't understand," she said. "I didn't…. What do you want with me?"
"We want nothing with you," said the woman who'd spoken before — from her spot to the right of the highest podium. "We have brought you here to hear the verdict of your trial, and for its execution. In the name of justice."
The man opened his arms wide, to indicate the others around him. "We, the Powers that Be, condemn you, Seosyrae, for the crime of being a creature of evil, whose creation was for the demolition of all things. For the crimes you have committed in your past, and those you will commit in your future, we sentence you to complete termination."
